Another published article reflecting a general philosophy

By Mark A. Zappa

This article published in the Gilroy Dispatch reflect my feeling regarding unfair race based school admissions policies.

Mark Zappa

Mark Derry, Editor The Dispatch

Dear Editor,

I am amazed it took so long for someone to sue the Gilroy Unified School District over its admissions policy. Unfortunately, this impending lawsuit completely misses the real injustice of the system which is in fact, racial profiling.
When we moved to Gilroy 12 years ago, my daughter was approaching Kindergarten age. I was glad we had moved within a few of blocks of Rod Kelley School. I had heard it was a great school with Gene Sakahara as its principal.
As fall approached, we learned that in Gilroy, living near a school did not necessarily mean your child would be admitted. I learned that race was the primary criteria for "balancing" student population. This really upset me as I object to racial profiling for any reason whether it is used for traffic stops, employment or school admissions.

After laying awake all night, morning mercifully came. I noticed a trickle of new faces appearing at the admissions desk. These faces included a friend of ours in which one of the parents is Hispanic. Our friend's daughter was immediately placed in front of all the poor slobs who slept over. Is this racist or what! Where was the ACLU! This was insanity. Anyway, the rolls quickly filled and most of those who slept over were expelled to attend other schools, which were not within walking distance of their homes, myself included.
I did learn something valuable from the district personnel, which will greatly assist parents in counteracting this great injustice without filing a lawsuit. When you fill out the admissions application, just list your child's ethnicity as Hispanic. I was told that the district is forbidden by law from disputing any persons claimed ethnicity. This means that if you were clearly Caucasian, you could walk up to the admissions desk and claim to be African-American and they couldn't do a thing about it. Therefore, if everyone claimed to be Hispanic, it would render moot the gross injustice that has been inflicted upon the citizens of Gilroy for far too long. Don't let the Gilroy Unified School District use your child as a pawn in their game of racial chess. It is time for the government to stop social engineering at all levels. Only then will we truly be treated equally as human beings.

Mark Zappa Gilroy